An authentic experience

12 Kotare Avenue, Westmere. Photo/Ted Baghurst.

12, KOTARE AVE, WESTMERE

4

2

0

SIZE: Land 766sq m, house 190sq m.

PRICE INDICATION: CV $1.97 million.

INSPECT: Sun 2-2.45pm or by appointment.

AUCTION: September 16 (unless sold prior).

ON THE WEB: bayleys.co.nz/1670250

SCHOOL ZONES: Westmere School, Pasadena Intermediate, Western Springs College.

CONTACT: Karen Spires, Bayleys, 027 273 8220.

Authenticity rates in Jan McIntosh's world; anything with unnecessary additives does not. And nowhere is this better illustrated than in this bungalow home and its garden in which Jan, a television producer, and her husband Brendan Telfer, a sports broadcaster, have let these key attributes take centre stage.

Built in 1920 on the cusp of the bungalow boom, this home had been in one family's ownership until 2000 when Jan and Brendan purchased it as a deceased estate, becoming only the second owners in its 80-year history. Jan's appreciation of its pedigree and her own photographic montage of the original family here and her own previous family homes is just part of what lies behind her commitment to this home's authentic renovation.

Jan has developed the garden, harvesting produce from its 13 varieties of fruit trees and raised vegetable beds to feed her family, which includes their sons Jay (20) and Harry (18). The former producer of Maggie's Garden Show, Jan has also used this garden as the film-set backdrop for her organic edible gardening website.

As much attention has gone into the building blocks beneath this renovation, designed by architect Jeanette Budgett.

Extensions and alterations include the new family room, the reconfiguration of two rooms into a combined kitchen and dining room and two new bathrooms out of another one original room.

Designer Robyn Bartlett is behind the industrial-style kitchen, and the look of the bathrooms with their vibrant laminate vanity tops and the replica tongue and groove upper wall panelling. "Just so we don't forget its heritage," says Jan of the house. Meanwhile, a new laundry at the end of the hallway sits discreetly behind sliding doors.

Image 1 of 6: Renovations to this 1920s bungalow have meticulously restored and retained period features, while making this a comfortable and modern family pad

For the new living areas, matai flooring was sourced from a girls' boarding school in Hunterville to match the original floors. The dining room window, with sea views, is original. So, too, is the ceiling rose with new surrounding rimu battens that replicate the pattern on the original ceiling in the formal lounge.

The doors here have their own tale to tell. The panelled bungalow door into the kitchen is new. Other originals are where they've always been; one or two more have been "re-homed" around the house. Every bedroom door has its original lock and key, which enabled Jan and Brendan to secure the areas of the house that they lived in with their young boys during the seven-month renovation. Jan replaced the lock plate on one of the bedroom doors with an original in better condition on a spare door that she has stored under the house.

"That was another detail that we were able to achieve," says Jan. "It has kept the authentic design right through the house and that was important."

Jan recalls the exercise as an adventure. Brendan's recalls dust and the floor-to-ceiling blue tarpaulin that hung between the kitchen and the family room during construction.

The Telfer family moved here from their Grey Lynn villa for more land and they chose not to go ahead with their planned front garage in favour of keeping their rugby field/front lawn intact for the boys. Neither did they build the planned second storey of the house.

They have had all the room they've needed for family and entertaining and now that their boys are independent, Jan and Brendan are looking to downsize their home and garden.